AncestryDNA
Project Overview
AncestryDNA Origins is a core feature within the AncestryDNA product suite, designed to help users explore their ethnic background and geographic ancestry through an engaging and emotionally resonant experience. The goal was to translate complex genetic data into a meaningful narrative—enabling users to better understand their roots, regional connections, and cultural identity.
Challenges
Complex Data: Translating scientific genomic data into digestible, engaging storytelling required thoughtful simplification without sacrificing accuracy.
Emotional Sensitivity: Designing for an experience that is personal and sometimes unexpected (e.g., ethnic origins that challenge identity) meant navigating tone, language, and visuals with care.
Cross-Functional Alignment: Collaborating with scientific, engineering, and brand stakeholders to align on the narrative and ensure consistency across product touchpoints.
Developed a responsive map interaction where softly scaled region clusters visually represent a user's ancestral origins, providing an intuitive and engaging way to explore ethnic connections globally.
Created slide-out sidebar interactions to present additional map data, enhancing user engagement and providing easy access to detailed information.
Impact & Outcomes Delivered a scalable, visually rich UI that helped millions of users connect with their personal ancestry stories. Helped increase user engagement by making complex health and ancestry information more accessible and meaningful. Set a new standard within the company for how scientific results are communicated with empathy and clarity.
